Month: February 2018

President Trump is expected to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next month, as the long-serving Israeli leader faces mounting legal and political problems at home. Netanyahu will meet with the U.S. president March 5, U.S. and Israeli government officials said. The meeting coincides with Netanyahu’s planned address to the American []

Previous investigations into Russian mafia activities in Spain have featured high-ranking Russian officials, including some of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies. One of the Russian mafia’s leaders in Spain is the infamous Tambov gangster Gennady Petrov, who was twice arrested in the country but never returned after being granted permission to leave for Russia in 2012.

State Duma deputy Vladislav Reznik, among a dozen Russians targeted in a 2016 arrest warrant in Spain, claimed innocence at Monday’s court hearing.

“I came to the session because I’m not guilty of anything and I trust the Spanish justice system,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited Reznik as saying in Madrid.

Prosecutors seek prison sentences for the 18 Russian and Spanish suspects ranging from 1.7 years to 5.6 years, and fines from 26,000 euros to 100 million euros on criminal charges including money laundering and fraud, RIA Novosti reported.

Prosecutors also asked to sentence Petrov, the Tambov mafia chief, to 8.5 years in a separate case. Spain does not try defendants in absentia.

Iranian rescue teams, battling weather and mountainous terrain, have located the wreckage of a plane that crashed with 65 people on board, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported Monday. The Aseman Airlines flight left Tehran Sunday morning for the city of Yasuj in Isfahan province, but went down in the Zagros mountains. Officials fear all those on board were killed. The search effort was initially delayed due to dense fog, high winds and snow that made it impossible for…

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein: “The indictment charges 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies for committing federal crimes while seeking to interfere in the United States political system, including the 2016 presidential election.” http://cs.pn/2EJlVbc

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein: “The indictment charges 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies for committing federal crimes while seeking to interfere in the United States political system, including the 2016 presidential election.” http://cs.pn/2EJlVbc

President Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Friday. Mr. Trump has made little, if any public, effort to rally the nation to confront Moscow for its electoral intrusion or to defend democratic institutions against continued disruption.

Amid the biggest revamp of European defense in years, NATO is pushing the European Union to work closely with non-EU allies as the U.K. maneuvers to maintain its leverage in the regions security after it exits the bloc.

India and Iran sealed nine agreements during a visit by the Iranian President to New Delhi including a key accord that leases operational control of part of the Iranian port of Chabahar to New Delhi for 18 months. India is helping develop the port to create a strategic trade route to landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics, bypassing rival Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also agreed to step up efforts to bring…

A Navy officer aboard a mammoth U.S. aircraft carrier brimming with F18 fighter jets said Saturday that American forces would continue to patrol the South China Sea wherever “international law allows us” when asked if China’s newly built islands could restrain them in the disputed waters.